Brill Parish Council Newsletter
Special Issue
Hartwell’s Barn & Saunder’s Field

July/August 2023 (vol 3, issue 8)

A little history

Hartwell’s Barn was built in the 1850s by Jack Hartwell, one time owner the The Pheasant Inn. It was in regular use to shelter livestock and store hay until 1997 when the roof collapsed during a gale. The building was restored two years later, using many of the original building materials, including ironstone, and bricks and roof tiles made with clay dug from Brill Common and fired in local kilns. This work was funded by local people and grants from DEFRA and other bodies and Hartwell’s Barn was repurposed as an Environmental Centre, managed by the Brill Environment Group.

The adjacent Saunder’s Field has been used as grazing pasture for centuries. It was originally part of the Royal Hunting Forest of Bernwode. After Charles I decommissioned the Forest in 1632, Brill Common was given to the people of Brill in compensation for the loss of forest rights whilst the tract of land between Brill Common and Touchbridge was divided into three fields and passed to cottagers in the village. Saunder’s Field is one of those fields. The steeply sloping field contains a small outdoor seating area and the views are spectacular.

A Special Place

Sometimes you have to be on the point of losing something in order to really value it - and so it is with Hartwell’s Barn. For over ten years, the barn and Saunder’s Field has been used regularly by Brill Environment Group for meetings and workshops. It’s also hosted rehearsals, concerts and plays by local and outside ensembles, as well as parties, picnics and keep-fit sessions. Sitting on the sun-warmed grass in June listening to music with the sun setting over Muswell Hill is a truly magical experience - and one that might soon be lost for ever.

Under community ownership Hartwell’s Barn and Saunder’s Field could be so much more! Yoga, meditation, green sketching, handicraft workshops, bushcraft sessions, story-telling, music-making, sleep-outs, hang-outs. A trip down memory lane for senior residents, a community orchard, a wildlife sanctuary. A peaceful place to just sit. It could generate income as a visitor centre or environmental facility, meeting place or work away-day, party or picnic space, open-air cinema or concert venue, artisan workshop or quiet work area. The possibilities are endless! We would need to consider important practical issues such as access for less-abled people and on-going management but where there’s a will, there will surely be a way*.

But first we have to buy the barn and field. We’ve taken advice from Haddenham & Waddesdon Community Board and we’re seeking to engage the services of a professional grant-seeker and fund-raiser. Then there are other routes, including setting up a Community Ownership Fund or Community Benefit Society, private donations or even a Public Works Loan. The money is out there - but the administrative demands are considerable and time is tight.

*For local inspiration see: Adstock Community Hall and Orchard, Oving Village Hall (owned by the parish council and opened in 2014), and Oakley Village Pub Ltd., a new Community Benefits Society just down the road from Brill.

Our Vision

This is our vision:

• If it is the will of the people of Brill, to secure Hartwell’s Barn and Saunder’s Field for the community, for today and for future generations.

• To ensure the activities hosted for over a decade continue and, with the engagement of the community, develop new activities and events for the benefit of all, ensuring both the barn and field remain an integral part of our community life.

Hartwell’s Barn, together with Saunder’s field, is a special place. Under community control, it could be even more so - but we cannot proceed without the support of the people of Brill. We have a vision, but we don’t yet have details. We can’t tell you who will manage the barn and field, whether they would be paid or volunteer, how we’d meet challenges of heating, sanitation and logistics. We don’t know how we’ll raise the money or what we may request of residents in doing so. We’re just asking you to support us as we start exploring the options as quickly and as efficiently as possible - because failure to act now could mean Hartwell’s Barn and Saunder’s Field are lost to the community of Brill forever.

Over to You!

Please join the Parish Council at a public meeting on the morning of Saturday August 5th, 10am to noon, in Brill Memorial Hall. We’ll tell you more about the barn; its past and present and our vision for its future. We’ll share how this vision could be funded with minimal or zero use of PC funds - and then we’ll open the meeting to hear your opinions, suggestions and concerns.

If you can’t come to the meeting, please send us your thoughts:

• email the Hartwell’s Barn sub-committee

• go to the Hartwell’s Barn page on the BPC&C website and fill in the contact form at the foot of the page

• write to us at Brill Parish Council, The Old Library, Brill Memorial Hall, Church Street, Brill HP18 9RT

Your views on this urgent and important topic really matter.

Finally …

This is a special issue of the parish council’s monthly newsletter. Please tell friends and neighbours about the regular newsletter. Lots of people aren’t on Facebook or comfortable with social media, and we want to reach all parishioners equally. Email hannahbrillcommunity@gmail.com to subscribe.

For those not digitally-connected or who prefer to read a paper newsletter, there are always copies in the pouch on the door of the Old Library in the Memorial Hall, on the table at the back of All Saints Church, and by the till in Brill Stores.

Remember you can read past issues of the newsletter and much more on the Brill Parish Council & Community website.

Please note there will no regular newsletter in August; normal service will resume in September.

All good wishes
Brill Parish Council